MILITANCY AND IDENTITY POLITICS IN ASSAM

Composition:

Assam, in the North Eastern part of India, is connected to 6 other N.E states and shares a long border with two neighbouring countries – Bangladesh and Bhutan. Assam is specially known for its diversity. It has different national, ethnic, religious and tribal group living together in this region for centuries.
The population of Assam is a broad intermixture of Mongolian, Indo-Burmese, Indo-Iranian and Aryan races and a considerable number of Bengali and other language/dialects speaking people are also present. The Assamese people form the upper part while the Bengali speaking population is concentrated in the south. In terms of religion, Hindus are the majority (54%), while Muslims constitute the second largest group (24%).
The tribal population constitutes only 13% of the total population. The Karbis and Damashas, living in the hilly districts in the North, have their own dialects and culture and do not wholly identify with the Assamese people. Besides these hill tribes, there are also many plain tribes spread throughout Assam. While some of these tribes are entirely assimilated into the Assamese culture, there are others who are determined to maintain their unique identity. There are also tea plantation workers who were brought by the British to work in the tea gardens. What contributed to such a diverse population in Assam?

IMMIGRATION ISSUES:

The present situation in Assam cannot be understood without looking at the complex history of immigration in Assam. Immigration in Assam began nearly 200 years before Christ. Tribes from different parts of the world belonging to different races came to Assam throughout history. The Mongoloid race from West China, The Austric race, the Drabian race, and finally the Aryan race from the Gangetic plains have all immigrated to Assam before 1st century AD. Successive Mongoloid rulers invited Brahmin priests to Assam and got converted to Hinduism. Around 12th century, the Ahom rulers from Burma established their long lasting rule (till the advent of British). The Ahom rulers also converted to Hinduism but encouraged the co-existence of all other religions. The captured Mughal soldiers also set up their families in the region. The British conquered entire region of Assam and brought together the various tribes in Assam under the administrative umbrella of Assam province. The British also imported large numbers of tillers from East Bengal, who were Muslims. The influx of Muslims into the region was constant and thorough. If the initial communal riots in East Bengal after partition brought 15,00,000 Bengali Hindus to the region, the liberation wars and quite constantly after that, lacks of Bangladeshis are crossing the border with much ease. There is also immigration from different parts of India for commercial purposes (Marwaris).

COMPLEXITIES OF IDENTITY FORMATION:

Due to this immigration and other factors, Assam also has an equally complex history of identity formation and identity crisis. Most importantly, the population is mainly composed of different communities migrating to the region, it is extremely difficult, if not impossible to determine who is the original inhabitants of the region, who exactly compromises of the ‘natives’? Different tribes of this region claim their tribal identity and the outsiders subscribe to their own identity and thus, Assam as a whole does not have its identity. Going by lingual standards, the state govt tried to impose Assamese as the ‘native’ language of the state, which received strict resistance from other tribes. Religiously and ethnically, the population is too diverse to carve an identity that can encompass all. Politically, and here is the biggest paradox, it is impossible for people from this region to take up the Indian identity as very few believe that Assam belongs to India, and an even smaller minority can relate to the India that treats it nothing more than a strategic, conflict ridden area and the people treated as coming from an entirely different race, and often mistaken for Chinese or other oriental religions. In addition, the North Easterners themselves are conscious of not having a recorded history of their antecedents. Their historical pasts and migrant routes, often so essential in identity formation, are shrouded in mystery.


THE ROLE OF THE MIDDLE CLASS:

Since, historically Assam has inherited a fractured society, there was bound to be competition for scarce social, economic and political space, which further aggravated the prejudices and hostility among the different ethnic groups. The interesting characteristic of this autonomy movement is the role of the newly educated middle class. The spread of modern education in the hills and the influence of Indian markets, have led to the creation of a newly educated moneyed class among the Adivasis, who have taken upon them the responsibility of fighting the exploitation by the non-Adivasis. In Assam, the growing English educated middle class gave voice to the subnationalist aspirations of the people. The Bengalis who had settled largely in the south began to push for Bengali as the official language and as a medium of instruction. This annoyed the Assamese middle class. This support from the educated middle class had a determining effect on the growth of the autonomy movements. It was the middle class that often stressed on making Assamese as the official language and medium of instruction in schools in Assam through various organizations such as the Asom Sahitya Sabha.

Economic probs:

We can also look at the entire autonomy movement from the economic perspective. The economy was stagnating and employment and other resources were scarce. The Congress government, both at the centre and at the state did very little to develop the economy. Thanks to their non-performance, even after 5 decades of independence, Assam still remains an agrarian state. Owing to low levels of industrialization, limited urbanization, week transport and other infrastructure facilities, alternative avenues of employment for the people are very limited. Govt jobs and administrative posts are also limited. Land is the only way to income and when land started becoming scarce, different communities soon became hostile to the other and tried to monopolize the existing resources.

Outsiders dominating the economy:

During the formative years of the Assam Movement, its leaders noted with dismay that though at that ime, the state supplied more than 60% of India’s crude oil production, it received less than 3% of its value from the federal government. It was again the major contributor to the tea production in India but its royalties were incredibly low and it was the same case with plywood. Even the regional capitalist class that developed in Assam after independence was mostly comprised of Marwaris. The urban areas were dominated by outsiders and even the major source for administrative personnel came from outside.

Guha and other historian have often pointed out that the immigrant Bengali Hindus were initially disliked because they competed with the dominant Assamese middle class for land, jobs and local power. Later, there was a shift of focus from the Hindu Bengalis to the Muslim Bangladeshi immigrants who had hijacked much of the local jobs and not to mention, inflated the electoral roll. This significantly reduced the importance of the middle class, economically and politically. The infuriated emerging Assamese middle class, frustrated by being squeezed out of their own homes, took to arms. The unsympathetic and apathetic attitude of the plains people serving in the bureaucracy of the provincial government has further hardened the attitude of the conscious sections of the tribal middle class.

ORGANIZATIONS:

The main organizations that took up these issues, which often took a violent turn, was either formed by the middle class or was entirely backed by them. The All Assam Students Union (AASU), All Assam Gana Sangram Parishad (AAGSP) or the Assam Popular Movement Front were all aided and supported by the emerging middle class. Finally, even the ULFA comprised many of urban educated youth and had the firm ideological backing from this class.

LANGUAGE ISSUES:

The state and the central government are both equally responsible for the mess. The State government in Assam handled the language issue bad enough to drive the other tribes into a flurry of insecure thoughts about their survival in the state. Initially in its drive to fight Bengali domination, it got the support of other tribes in promoting Assamese nationality. But soon, it went into an overdrive and failed to redress the fears of other tribes of an Assamese domination. Blinded by the fear of Bengali domination and in a hurry to make the Assamese a major community in Assam, the political leaders tried to Assamise all linguistic minorities in the state.
In 1960’s, the govt tried to establish Assamese as the official language of the state but due to stiff resistance from the Bengalis in the valley and the Bodos from the hills, the govt had to recognise their languages also as associate official languages. This hasty move from the govt created suspicions in the minds of the hill tribes such as Mizos, Nagas, Boros, Khasis, etc and each demanded for separate hill states fearing living under Assamese domination (which eventually led to the formation of Meghalaya, Nagaland, Mizoram, etc). The incompetence of the State government in addressing the development issues also spread discontentment among the diverse population.


Hope was created and shattered within no time of the victory of the AGP in Assam as people realized that it provided no solutions to their problems. The successive failure of the AGP to redress issues was perhaps one of the important causes for the general population to go in favour of more hard-line violent organization like ULFA.

POROUS BORDER:

Another important contributing factor to the problem is the absolute lack of political will regarding the porous border. The constant demand of the Assamese people to the central govt has been to check the large influx of illegal Bangladeshi immigrants into the state. The centre however, has taken very little or no corrective measures over the years. Even the regional party AGP, though it came to power based on the promise to correct the porous border has terribly failed in this regard. This has further pushed the insurgents to take the issue in their own hands.


THE GROWTH OF MILITANCY AND INSURGENCY MOVEMENTS:

By provoking national and ethnic identities, the Assam agitation has prepared the ground for the rise of militancy in Assam. The dreaded ULFA which has challenged India’s sovereignty over Assam, showed the way for other militant organizations in Assam fighting for the protection of their communities’ interests. Their avowed goals range from protection of the interests of the natives from foreign immigrants to the formation of autonomous district/ state and creation of a separate state within the Indian Union to complete secession. Though, initially, their intentions were good and in relation to the community’s needs, it soon moved away from the very people it claimed to serve. Many are taking to militancy either for adventure or to make a quick buck.
These militant organizations resort to all kinds of methods, including killing, abduction, extortion, etc to collect money for their activities. They have also resorted to bombing trains and destruction of public property and innocent lives just to get attention. Because of their inhuman and unjustified activities, they are quickly loosing public support.

ULFA didn’t believe in moderate action, instead, it stood for armed action, conspicuous brutality, and exemplary violence. The students body and their political discourse lend an intellectual legitimization of a brutal chain of extortion, intimidation, terror, murder, etc. Initially the targets were corrupt politicians, bureaucrats and others suspected of committing crimes against Assamese society. This soon shifted to big business men and professionals, making them pay incredibly large sums of money to the organization. Hundreds of prominent businessmen were killed and many more were robbed in broad day light when the AGP was looking the other way. Non-Assamese people really felt insecure now as they considered this nothing more than the military arm of the Assamese middleclass chauvinism.


GOVT’S POLICY TOWARDS MILITANCY:
When things got out of hand, the AGP govt thought it wise to lend support to the operations of the unified command. At present, the army, the paramilitary forces and the state police are working together to suppress the militant activities in the state. Several leaders and cadres have either been arrested or killed. The government is also tying to wean away both militants and the people from insurgent activities. By offering rehabilitation packages, the govt has appealed to the militants to lay down their arms and surrender. The govt has also begun to take initiative to develop the N.E region by offering economic packages. However, most importantly it has started fencing the Bangladeshi border. This is just the starting step as lots left to be done in this area if peace is ever to be achieved.

CONCLUSION:

There seems to be a lack of political will both at the centre and at the state to help speed up the process of integration by accelerating the economic growth of different ethnic regions. All the political parties whether regional of the left or right appear to be more interested in pitting one ethnic group against the other rather than in evolving a common workable solution to the long standing grievances of the people.

Electoral politics in a society dominated by identity politics further consolidates ethnic loyalties and identities. Even national parties like the Congress and the BJP have no solutions to the real problems of the people but encourage identity politics to the extent that it serves their narrow political needs. Viewed from this angle, militancy in Assam is only a by-product of macro-social mismanagement and regional ethnic parochialism. As for now, the central government has to ensure rapid economic growth to fight against poverty and unemployment which after all might be the root cause and on our own part, we have to stop perceiving the region as a conflict stricken area which consists of people suffering from pre-conceived ethnic labels.